Checkmate
by Akashicchi-ssu
Summary: She stood on the other side of the board as the black queen, waging a war against his white army. She wanted to say "Checkmate" so badly, but he was always one step ahead of her. She didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing.
1. The Meeting

**Me: Hi! This is my first ever Kuroko no Basuke fanfic, so I hope it won't be as disastrous as I initially expected, haha! I hope you guys like it~**

**Also, I don't know much about… a certain person's background, so I just made up his family background for him.**

***Note: The first few chapters are all within the Teiko Arc.**

**Summary: **It was a simple game to observers, but to the players, it was more than a game. It took a lot of things just for one to be able to say 'Checkmate', and she hoped she would be the first. 

**-.-.-.-.-**

**Chapter 1: The Meeting**

The rain poured down heavily on the streets as a figure, wearing a jacket with its hood up, ran down the streets. The figure ran past a street, almost getting hit by a red car. Turning around, the figure bowed apologetically towards the ranting driver before running again.

The figure stopped at the gates of a large mansion. Panting, the figure pressed the doorbell, and the speaker beside the gate said, "Who is it?"

The figure picked up the phone beside the speaker and held it to his/her ear, replying in a soft, tired voice, "It's me, Aunt Reina."

"Mi-chan!" Reina exclaimed. "Hold on, I'll get Makoto."

The figure hummed in reply as he/she waited under the rain. After a few moments, the gates began to open by themselves, and the figure stepped inside, the gates closing behind him/her. The figure walked towards the front door of the mansion, knocking lightly on the door.

It opened after about three seconds, and a boy with a scowl on his face said, "The fuck are you doing here, Mizu?"

The figure pulled down the hood of the jacket, to reveal a girl with a tired look on her face, mostly covered by her black hair. "I'm sorry, but they…"

She didn't need to finish her sentence. The boy had made room for her, jerking his head towards the inside of the mansion.

"Well, go in, then."

The girl nodded and stepped inside. "I apologize for this sudden 'visit' of sorts."

The boy shrugged, closing the door. "Those shitheads are at it again, huh?"

The girl nodded again. "Yeah."

Her cousin, Makoto, sighed deeply, annoyed. It wouldn't be the first time that his little cousin had come here because of… _that_. "Go on to the dining hall, you little shit. You're just in time for dinner."

The girl managed a small smile and said, "Since when did you eat dinner with the family?"

"Who said I was eating with them, bitch?" Makoto scoffed. "Besides, _she'd_ probably force me even more this time, since you're here."

The girl chuckled lightly, but said nothing in response.

The two cousins headed over to the large and extravagantly designed dining hall. It had carpeted floors, and red wallpapers for all the walls and the ceiling. A chandelier hung on the center of the ceiling, the lights shining brightly.

The dining table under the chandelier was decorated with a vase of flowers for its centerpiece, and had a white table cloth with a red colored runner. There were twelve chairs surrounding the dining table, five on each long side, and one on each short side.

On one of the chairs on the short sides sat a man with dark blue hair and to his left was a woman with black hair. The woman, upon seeing the two, stood up and went over to them, immediately hugging the slightly shivering girl.

"Oh, Mizuki!" she exclaimed, hugging the girl tightly. "I'm so sorry you had to hear them again."

"It's fine, Auntie, really." Mizuki, the girl, said in order to soothe her distressed aunt.

"Fine, my ass," Makoto scoffed under his breath, but Mizuki heard it, so she glared at him.

"Come eat dinner with _all _of us, won't you?" her aunt, Reina, said as she ushered the two to sit beside each other, with Makoto to his father's right and Mizuki beside Makoto, giving the latter _the_ look.

Hesitantly, Mizuki sat down beside a silently grumbling Makoto.

Masaomi, Makoto's father, glanced at his niece and said, "It is not my place to ask, but as your uncle, I must, as I am concerned about your well-being. What were they arguing about now?"

Mizuki was hesitant to answer, but at her uncle's piercing glare, she hesitantly replied, "…about me."

Reina gasped at this, but Masaomi added, "What exactly about you?"

"I'm not sure." Mizuki said. "All I heard was a few curse words along with my name on it. It'll probably be fine tomorrow."

"Fuck that," Makoto said, earning a disapproving look from his mother.

"Makoto, really!" she sighed exasperatedly, not accepting of her son's… choice in language.

Ignoring his wife's scolding, Masaomi knew his son had a point. "Makoto's right. This has been going on for too long. Why not stay here in the meantime? I could notify Erika and Takeshi about this, if they ask."

"I wouldn't want to impose too much." Mizuki said shyly.

"Nonsense! You're family, Mi-chan." Reina said, gently smiling at her niece. "You're welcome to stay for as long as you want."

Mizuki smiled gratefully and said, "Thank you for the offer. I'll accept it, but please, may I work so that I can help with the expenses?"

Reina had wanted to refuse, but her niece could be as stubborn as her son so she obliged. "If you insist, dear."

"Thank you, Auntie." Mizuki said before facing her uncle. "I hope you don't mind, Uncle."

"I don't," he said. "So, shall we eat?"

They then began to dig into the food prepared by their chefs. There was so much to choose from – meat pies, salads, noodles, etc. There was some small talk as they ate, but there was an enjoyable and peaceful atmosphere at the house… something Mizuki hadn't experienced in quite a while.

As she ate, Makoto glanced at his cousin, who was feeling better compared to the state she was in a while ago. He clenched his fists lightly as he ate, his face unreadable, but he knew what to do. It was something he'd rather not tell anyone, but it had to be done. 

-.-.-.-.-

"_Worthless child—"_

"—_wasn't supposed to exist –"_

"—_a mistake"_

Mizuki abruptly got up from her sleep, panting. It was a bad dream. It was a just a bad dream. At least, she was trying to convince herself that it was.

She took a look at her surroundings. Where was she again?

The room had dark purple colored walls and lavender colored curtains in front of an open window that let air inside. The floor was covered in fluffy black carpets. The furniture was all black. The bed she was in had dark purple bedsheets and pillow cases. This wasn't her room.

But then, she remembered. She had gone here yesterday, and yesterday's events shook her greatly.

"Damn them…" she muttered lightly, as she stood up and wore her uniform and got her bag. 

-.-.-.-.-

Downstairs, she saw her uncle and aunt eating. "Good morning, Auntie, Uncle."

"Good morning, Mizuki," Reina said with a gentle smile on her face, ushering her niece to sit down and eat.

"Morning, Mizuki." Masaomi said.

Mizuki sat down and said 'Itadakimasu' before digging into her salad. "Where's Makoto?"

"He's in school already." Reina said with a smile. "Oh, that boy. He's so smart, but his language…"

Mizuki let out a small chuckle. "I wonder who he got that from, though."

Reina let out a fake exaggerated gasp. "Mizuki, you can't mean me!"

"I never said anything about you, Auntie." Mizuki said, as she finished her food. "Well, I've got to go now."

"Alright." Masaomi said.

"Good luck! It _is_ your first day, after all! Stay safe! Be good!" Reina exclaimed after Mizuki, who was already heading out the door.

"I know, Auntie!" 

-.-.-.-.-

{At Teiko Middle School…}

When Mizuki reached her classroom, she found all the students outside. Nearing the classmate closest to her in terms of distance, she asked, "What's going on?"

"Oh, Hinata-san," the girl said. "We're being called in by our rankings based on last year's exams. Oh, I wish I was smart enough to get third or second place, so I could be beside either Akashi-san or Midorima-san~"

Mizuki nodded, but felt weirded out by the girl. What was with the fangirling, anyways?

"Akashi Seijuuro."

A redhead in front of the line stepped inside, no surprise on his face.

"As expected of Akashi-san." "I know right. He's always first place." "He's so smart!" "I know!"

Akashi Seijuuro. She had heard of him back when she was still a new student at Teiko. He was good at _everything_. At first, Mizuki couldn't believe that he couldn't fail at anything, but from her experience as his classmate, it was true. He made it seem so effortless.

"Hinata Mizuki."

Mizuki then headed inside the classroom.

"Oh, I'm so jealous of her!" "I bet she cheated!"

Mizuki simply ignored them, just as Makoto had told her before.

Inside, she sat on the empty seat beside the genius redhead. She placed her bag to her left, and brought out a notebook. She started to write things down that could possibly help her cousin out in his games.

The redhead beside her didn't bother to glance at her, although, she couldn't care less. He was nothing but a classmate, after all.

When she had finished writing her notes on Makoto's previous game, she glanced to her right and saw Midorima Shintaro next to her.

_Ah, the one who obsessed over horoscopes. This year will be quite interesting, I suppose. _

"You."

She did not respond to whoever said that, until the voice said, "Hinata."

Looking to her right, she saw the green haired boy looking at her with a slight glare. "Does this mean that you beat me and tied with Akashi, or were you were tied with me and are only there because your last name, or perhaps, you actually beat me?"

Mizuki shrugged. "Who knows? Why don't you ask sensei? She could probably answer your question."

"What was your numerical average?" he asked, ignoring her.

"99.96%," Mizuki replied softly.

Midorima then had a tick mark on his face. "I see."

"Why? What was yours, Midorima-san?" Mizuki asked curiously.

"None of your business." Midorima said.

"Hmm…" Mizuki hummed and let it go.

**-.-.-.-.-**

**A/N: Well, that's the end of it. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Do tell!**

**By the way, the story will really be kind of slow for now, since I'm going to try to build Mizuki's relationships with them haha!**

**P.S.: I know Makoto's a bad boy, but I totally forgot if he curses or not, so I just assumed that he did.**

**P.P.S.: If Mizu seems OP (lol) or like a Mary Sue, just say the word, k~**


	2. The Enemy Pawn

**Me: Thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows! Also, I just found out that there was a fanfic entitled 'Checkmate!' already, so I'm sorry if it seems that I copied it, but I only just recently found that story, so yeah…**

**-.-.-.-.-**

**Chapter 2: The Enemy Pawn**

**(really just an annoying fangirl)**

Mizuki was pretty sure that her day was going fine.

Her cousin walked to her school like he did before, which made her hug him. Of course, as she had expected, he acted like the tsundere he was and simply looked away, scowling. Not only that, but her uncle and aunt had told her that Rakuzan was interested in her, and it made her happy and excited because Rakuzan was her dream school.

If only she knew what awaited her that day.

Taking her seat between the two basketball players, she didn't bother greeting them. She barely talked to them, anyways.

She, along with the others, stood up to greet the teacher, who greeted them back and told them to sit down. Once they did, the teacher, Shino-sensei, announced that they would be having a project.

Mizuki then grumbled in her mind. _A project on the first day of school? Ah, well. I suppose the stress is healthy._

"It's a pretty simple project. All you have to do is make a report on a sub-topic of the topic I will assign to you. The groupings will be decided in the usual method," Shino-sensei explained.

Most of the class groaned.

The usual method. It was something Shino-sensei had done before. All you had to do was that, when you were called, draw two slips of paper, and they will be your group mates. It was simple, but somewhat nerve-wracking. You didn't want people who you disliked.

_I suppose this is where that horoscope of Midorima comes in._

"Midorima-san."

Midorima stood up, clutching a pink rabbit stuffed toy in his left hand as he walked up to the teacher's desk. He grabbed two purple slips of paper and read them out loud, "Oikawa Yukino. Hinata Mizuki."

_Ah, so that was her name… the fangirl from yesterday._

"Your topic will be The First Chinese-Japanese war." Shino-sensei said, as Midorima nodded and sat back down.

After the groupings and topics were said, they grouped together to begin discussing their project. Midorima was definitely a reliable person, in Mizuki's opinion. Oikawa, on the other hand…

"Ne, Midorima-kun, what should we do?" Oikawa said, sitting on the chair next to him.

"This is very simple." Midorima said. "Oikawa, you can do the Treaty of Shimonoseki, and Hinata, you can do the reason why they did it. I could compile it, and add extra, but reliable information if necessary."

"You know a lot about this, huh, Midorima-kun?" Oikawa said, leaning closer to him.

Mizuki noticed him getting uncomfortable. "Midorima-san, perhaps Oikawa and I could switch topics."

"And why would that be?" Midorima asked.

"Because her topic seems too hard to her, so I would willingly give her the easy one." Mizuki replied, expecting Oikawa to either be annoyed at her for indirectly insulting her intelligence or be grateful.

As expected, it was the latter. Oikawa put her hands together and beamed at Mizuki. "Really, Hinata-san? Thanks!"

Mizuki nodded as Oikawa began to blabber about random things to Midorima, not like he was listening to her.

When it was time for their second period, Oikawa reluctantly went back to her seat as Midorima passed a note to Hinata.

Why did you do that?

Mizuki let out a small smirk, and replied: I wasn't trying to be mean, but you and I both know that if she did the treaty, she would give a very bad report.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Midorima nod slightly at the paper, before responding: I see. That was a very wise decision, then. If not, perhaps, the group grade would be lower than my standards.

Mizuki replied one last time: Perhaps, so.

-.-.-.-.-

At lunch time, Mizuki was going to grab her bento, but found it missing. She looked all over for it, but couldn't.

Clicking her tongue, she glanced around the classroom. To her right was Midorima, eating a bento that seemed pretty girlish, but she wouldn't question it. To her left was Akashi, with a very expensive looking bento. But she couldn't find her purple colored bento anywhere. Just when she was about to give up, someone called her – Oikawa. "Hinata-san, there's someone here for you!"

Turning around, she saw her cousin there and grinned slightly. "Mako!"

As she went towards him, she heard him click his tongue, and say, "Don't call me that, you little shit…"

Mizuki pouted. "I used to call you that before all the time, you know."

"That was before, dammit…" he muttered before handing her the bento she lost. "Here. You left it at home, so _she_ told me to bring it to you. Forgetful bitch…"

She stuck her tongue out childishly. "Thanks, though." She then got the bento and hugged her cousin as if he was a teddy bear.

"Oi!" he exclaimed, looking anywhere but her. "Don't do shit like that in public."

She pouted again before saying, "Thanks again, Mako. Hope you won't be late for school because of this…"

"I probably will, but who gives a damn, anyways?" Makoto said as he started to leave. "Bye."

"Bye, Mako!"

When she turned around, she saw almost a third of her female classmates staring at her. "What?"

"Who was that?" Oikawa asked her curiously. "Is her your boyfriend or something?"

"Eww, no." Mizuki said, disgusted at the thought. "He's my cousin!"

"Oh!" Oikawa said in realization as she giggled. "So, I can have him then?"

_That's assuming that he'd actually like you back, which I doubt. _

Instead of saying that out loud, Mizuki settled for a shrug as she went back to her seat.

As she ate, she didn't realize Akashi glancing at her, interested in her. _A cousin of an Uncrowned King… interesting._

-.-.-.-.-

When Akashi got back home, he was greeted by the usual silence, and he headed up to his room. Opening his laptop, he began to Google Hinata Mizuki, and he found several articles of her.

Two intrigued him.

One was of her winning an academic competition in Tokyo. It was a decathlon of sorts, and she easily made her school, Midori Elementary, the champion.

The other was of her and Hanamiya Makoto. They used to be classmates and what interested him was the fact that she was the reason why he and the other Generals won. She was, apparently, their assistant coach. Normally, it would be strange for a grade schooler to be an assistant coach, but she was.

Akashi smirked. She would definitely be a valuable asset if she joined the basketball team as an assistant coach. She would be one of the variables that would ensure their winning streak.

And Akashi was always right. He was absolute, after all.

-.-.-.-.-

The next day, Midorima announced to her and Oikawa his plan. They would meet at the nearby library at eleven in the morning, on Saturday, to do the project and research together.

"I'll be glad to, Midorima-kun!" Oikawa said cheerfully.

Midorima looked at Mizuki, who nodded. "Sure, but could my cousin come along? My aunt and uncle won't be home, and I'd rather not leave him be in the house. Who knows what that boy will be doing…"

Midorima nodded. "As long as he does not disrupt our project, then he is free to tag along."

Mizuki nodded appreciatively. "Would it also be alright if he helps? He _is_ very smart."

"I suppose."

-.-.-.-.-

"Hell no."

"Please, Mako?"

"'Hell no' means 'hell no'."

"But, Mako….!"

Makoto sighed. He didn't want to deny the fact that Mizuki was right about the fact that he was planning to pull a prank on her when she got back. It annoyed him that his cousin was _nearly_ as smart as him, but of course, never as smart or smarter than he was.

"Why would I, anyways? There ain't anything fun to do in the library. I've read all the… _interesting _things there."

"If you help me out, I'll treat you to all the games you want in the arcade."

And that was how Hanamiya Makoto was bribed to help and tag along.

-.-.-.-.-

When Saturday came, Mizuki and a grumbling Makoto arrived in front of the library and saw Midorima there already.

"I assume you are Mizuki's smart cousin?" Midorima said.

Makoto nodded.

"Might I know both of your zodiac signs?"

The question caught the cousins off guard.

"Capricorn, why?" Makoto replied.

"And I'm a Cancer." Mizuki added.

"I see… Capricorn and Cancer are compatible, and today, Cancer is number 1 and Capricorn is number 3. Luck is on our side today." Midorima said. "Your presence is appreciated."

Turning to Mizuki, he said, "And as fellow Cancers, let us get along from now on." And they shook hands.

That was when Oikawa arrived, wearing, much to Miyuki's disgust, a mini skirt and a tank top.

Midorima and Makoto, however, were unfazed by the girl's choice of clothes.

"Is that the annoying shit you were telling me about?" Makoto whispered to his cousin.

Mizuki sighed and nodded. "Unfortunately, yes."

Makoto nodded.

"Let us get started, then." Midorima said.

-.-.-.-.-

Extra: With Midorima and Akashi Chatting Online

**OhaAsaIsAlwaysRight: **I am compatible with Hanamiya Makoto.

**IAmAbsolute: **Is that so? Still, if we're on court, be wary of him, Shintaro. He's rather intelligent, and in the videos we've watched with the rest, it's clear that he always has a back-up plan.

**OhaAsaIsAlwaysRight: **I am aware of that, Akashi.

**IAmAbsolute: **Good.

**OhaAsaIsAlwaysRight: **Should we be keeping an eye on Hinata-san?

**IAmAbsolute: **I suppose. She would prove to be useful to us.

**OhaAsaIsAlwaysRight: **I see…

Extra: At the Arcade

"Fuck you."

"Oh, don't look at me like that, Mako. How was I supposed to know that I'd be able to get the stuffed toy? Unless, of course, you're implying that you wanted it? Too bad but I don't share."

"Who said I wanted that shit?"

"How dare you, Mako! How could you insult Fluffy like that?!"

"… 'Fluffy'?"

"What, gonna judge me?"

"Don't need to ask."

**-.-.-.-.-**

**Me: And there's the second chappie! Hope you guys liked it!**


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